Day# 138: Diana Cepsyte interview about Uxergirl

October 9, 2018

Hi everyone in this post, I chat to Diana about my experiences in the UX industry from how I decided to get into the industry and my journey of learning everything that was needed to be a professional UX designer. Enjoy!

Maybe you could tell me a little more about yourself? What is your story? How did you get into UX? What was it that made you want to do UX?

I actually studied multimedia design almost 10 years ago now, I was creative and really was not sure of what field to go into, I technically grew up with internet around me but I didn’t have internet at home. So the result was I didn’t even know about the vast amount of research and learning one can do about an industry before getting into it. I studied design and really enjoyed the research side of it, at college the research side of my projects always raised my marks. Getting into the working world was hard for me, I lost a few jobs and felt like working in the design industry was a real anti climax for me. I had the impression that I would be able to at least be allowed to understand my projects, where as all the companies I worked at wanted was a designer to design on a factory line so to speak.

I have always been fascinated with psychology and loved learning about the shopper psychology, so I was doing short courses here and there but did not really know what to do with it. Anyway on passes more and more time in the industry slowly becoming a senior designer. I eventually reconnected with an old friend one day and she was chatting to me about transitioning into UX from a design position. She was actually complaining about the types of technical questions they asked, and I was like I wish companies challenged me like that! I started learning a little at first and then decided to do my blog to track some of progress. Every evening I dedicate all my free time to UX(apart from gaming haha!) I work on posts for my blog, I do mini projects with my fiance (as a software developer, it works out nice because we actually build some of our ideas and test them out) Mostly UX has given me a passion like I have not had in a long time..

What do you like the most about UX? and why?

I would say coming from a creative industry, I hated hearing “Oh I just don’t like the way this feels” I hated not having any methods in place to prevent that or knowing how to work towards a product that clients would not be able to say that too. I like that it is not subjective and relies on data to make decisions. As time goes I want to transition into a fully research based role, so hopefully one day!

Where are you in your UX journey now? Where do you want to be/go? How do you plan to get there?

Well I would say I am at the beginning but that’s just my general outlook, I needed to come to terms with understanding that studying formally is not the end of your journey of learning. I was slowly starting to become a mediocre designer because I was not passionate about the industry and I never want that to happen with UX. I want to get into UX game design and research. As a gamer, that would be my ultimate favorite industry to get into. My partner and I will even be moving to a country that has more possibility of me landing a job with a gaming company, because here in South Africa there are hardly any UX game design/research jobs.

I would say I plan on getting there by working hard every single day, I have my blog that displays my dedication as well as I will probably also be starting to write on Medium in the future. I have another plan which I am going to keep to myself for now but it’s another way for me to explore my UX skill set, and hopefully it will bring me closer to the UX gaming industry.

Do you have anyone or anything that you find is really inspirational when it comes to UX? Do you follow anyone in the field? If yes, what about them is inspiring to you?

I follow tons of people everywhere, I would say I admire passion, determination and an intricate interest in the industry. I go through phases learning about a persons journey, their mindsets and what were the steps they took to get where they are. Then I move on to someone else, I don’t think I keep fixed role models so to say..Some general interesting content online would be as follows;

Higher resolution: It is a Youtube Channel where they talk to high level industry professionals from UX to design and management.

Interaction Design Foundation, wow this platform!: So this site has a number of courses ranging from beginner to experienced. I have actually just got my own membership because I was hesitant about spending the money (even though its not a lot) on yet another course. I’m doing a number of courses at the same time, some are more intensive and others have videos and diagrams etc to take you through. They give current members a link for sharing with their friends to get a three month discount, check it out here if you interested! Out of interest the course I am enjoying the most right now is the psychology of eCommerce

I would say someone inspirational for me right now is Celia Hodent, she is a UX gaming consultant. She gives a number of talks and often educates the public on UX game design. You can find her site here with her explaining some of methods and processes for UX game design

Do you have any experience with service design? If yes, could you tell me more about it? How does service design appear to you in your daily life?

I would say not that much, I do tend to help companies with service design related issues very rarely . For example I have worked at a company that had stores, I dealt with the same clientele in the form of the users on the App. So I knew what they liked, how they spoke and what type of incentives would stand out to them. I then helped with in store activation’s and working on little ways to make their in store experience a little better. I would not say I am at all super experienced with the intricate know hows of service design but I am good with research and with that comes understanding with time of course.

I really enjoyed chatting with Diana, and for anyone starting out in UX industry, stay strong and work hard. I think when I first heard about the industry the biggest misconception that I heard was that UX earns big money and there are tons of jobs everywhere because its in high demand. Oh also that its an easy industry to crack into, I think if you have the skill set and understand the various processes and methods in place then you will be at an advantage, however expecting a high salary for an entry level job may be a bit of a stretch. Every industry has its rather robust list of ups and downs, it just means finding an industry that is most suited to what you enjoy spending your time doing. Until next time, happy researching